Search for Maria's Struggle for Existencein Paulo Coelho’s Eleven Minutes

Abstract

This study aims to discuss the issue ofMaria’s struggle for existence in Paulo Coelho’s Eleven Minutes (2003) by using an existentialist perspective.Existentialism stands as a branch of philosophy that studies the path of man’s effort to exist in the world. A person is best when struggling against their individual nature and fighting for life and human nature is chosen through life choices.The objectives of this study are to identify the indicators of seeking a meaningful life, to describe the depiction of seeking a meaningfullife, and to analyze the reason why Paulo Coelho addressed the issue of seeking a meaningful life in the novel.Eleven Minutes raises the issue of Maria’s struggle for existence in foreign land who visits Switzerland to fulfill her dream, improve her family condition, find true love and make better existence in society. For better life she becomes a samba dancer but betrayed by agent. She tried modeling but failed. Eventually she chose prostitution and saved enough money for her dream. She also found her true love. Her constant passion, hard work and strong willpower helped her to get success in the struggle for her existence.This study belongs to a descriptive qualitative research. The primary data source is Paulo Coelho’s Eleven Minutesnovel published in 2003 and the secondary data sources such as books, articles, journals,internetto complete the data analysis. The findings can be found in the study are as following. First, there are five indicators of seeking a meaningful life which are meeting livingneeds, increasing living standard, improving the quality of life, choosing the right friends, and willingness to change. Second, seeking a meaningful life is depicted in the novel through the characters, style and plot/events. The last is the reason why the author addressed the issue of seeking a meaningful life in his novel such as to reveal the life journey in seeking a meaningful life and also to give motivation to the readers about itsquality.